The meeting was called to order by President John Guches at 9:02 am.
ROLL CALL:
Officers: All present except Corresponding Secretary, Vivian Fairburn.
Appointed Officers: All present except Financial Advisor, Bill Reid; BMI/ASCAP, Ralph Lambert; Insurance Chairman, Kay Rogers; Youth Activities Coordinator, Lisa Gibbens; ORDTA, Dennis Smith; Caller Advisor, Bill Reid; Webmaster, Tim Roberts; OFN Editor, Vivian Fairburn; 2009 Mid-Winter Festival, Jon and Kathy Rawitzer; 2009 Summer Festival, JoAnn Bean; 2010 Summer Festival, Jim and Kay Rogers.
Delegates: All present except Eastern Oregon, Jim Rogers. Rogue Sis-Q, Marlene Richardson, has been replaced by Glory Guches.
Active Goodwill Ambassadors: All present.
INVOCATION: Immediate Past President, Marilyn Schmit.
FLAG SALUTE: 1st Vice President Lee Ashwill.
MINUTES: Corrections to the minutes were made. Motion made by Bill Rooper to accept the minutes as corrected and seconded by Dennis Marsh. Carried.
OFFICERS REPORTS:
"THIS MEETING IS BEING RECORDED"
PRESIDENT: John (Glory) Guches
I would like to extend my thanks to the Interstate Highlanders and the KC Squares for a wonderful dinner and dance last night.
The end of March and April found Glory and I on the road visiting and enjoying festivals, a very special birthday dance and the H.O.R.S.E.S Benefit Dance.
We went to the Redding Jamboree Festival in Redding, California. While we were there, we took with us registration forms for our Summer and Mid-Winter Festival to attend.
In our Rogue Sis-Q Council we attended our Pear Blossom Festival. From there we went North to the Happy Hoppers 50th Birthday and Jim Hattrick's Caller and Cuer 50th Anniversary! We had a good time at this dance, dancing and visiting with everyone. We were privileged to meet the Washington State Federation, President Doug Keyes. Thank-you Jean Tolstrup for inviting us, and the Happy Hoppers for including us in your birthday festivities!
And we attended the H.O.R.S.E.S Benefit Dance the next day.
1st VICE PRESIDENT: Lee (Barbi) Ashwill
I would like to echo John sediments to the Interstate Highlanders and the KC Squares. That was a beautiful evening last night. It was especially satisfying for me because we got to see Don and Helen Schriner. We haven't seen them for a while, but I love those folks.
As I had previously stated, my goal for next year is to provide the clubs of Oregon with whatever we can to make them successful. I asked the delegates to go back to their clubs and find out what the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs can do to help the clubs of this Federation. I hope the delegates will give me in writing what they gleaned from their clubs.
I contacted the delegates from South Coast, who will host the November 2009 Meeting, Rogue Sis-Q, who will host the May 2010, and Emerald Empire who will host September 2010, and asked them to bring suggested dates for the State Meeting they will be hosting. It is my responsibility as the President Elect to select the dates of those meeting while trying not to interfere with any other activities. If those delegates will give me the dates they have come up with. I will take them home and compare the dates against any possible conflict and announce those dates to the councils concerning the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs.
The next comment was before the information came out, and I said that I had a great deal of concern regarding the Summer Festival 2009 and the low number of registrants and I was really discouraged with that. That will be covered later.
Mid-Winter Festival 2009: Jon (Kathy) Rawitzer- Submitted by Glory Guches:
I was to bring the check from Mid-Winter Festival 2009 to the May State Meeting and turn it in to Bill Rooper, the Treasurer. It was sent by regular mail and didn't arrive until Monday of this week, after the meeting.
They have paid their loan and given the Oregon Federation part of the profit.
Summer Festival 2009: JoAnn Bean
When no one volunteered to do the 2009 Summer Festival, it was brought up to the Hayshakers. Cynthia Webber decided she wanted to do it. She asked JoAnn Bean to be her co-chair. She decided to quit when told she wasn't getting things done on time. JoAnn took over after discussing with the club and decided to run with it. At that time we had contracts with the Clatsop County Fairgrounds and the main caller and cuer. Since then over 100 registration letters (which had more than one registration in it) have been mailed out to every club, council, callers and cuers and flyer in delegate boxes twice. Ads were placed in the OFN, the Footnotes and Mid-Winter Festival booklet, and at the Mid-Winter Festival and only got one registration.
Worked on getting committees. Publicity was Kathy and Sylvia. Russell was in charge of getting callers, Barbara in charge of getting cuers. Ricia was in charge of the baskets. Dale and Sylvia were doing the booklet. Gus and Hugh doing split the pot. Dale was in charge of signage to the fairgrounds, Wagon Master, and some other odds and ends. JoAnn was taking care of the money, printing and mailing. We could have used one more caller, and cuer and one cuer backed out. Festival was promoted by Club dancers and State Officers but no one wanted to sign up. When we call off the dance we had 38 signed up, with only about 5 State Officers and spouse signed up. Everything was ready to go except paying for caller and cuer, and the fairground and the bus. The column was okay but needed insurance to finish this action. After awhile I got a hold of the insurance person and she said she had mailed the column insurance form to Sylvia, but she never received it. The insurance person said that I never put in for the fairgrounds, I have an e-mail from her saying she had all she needed. As of right now I am in the process of sending money back to everyone. We will be in the hole. Fairground has cancelled its contract with us and so have the caller and cuer. Checks have been made up and are being returned to the booklet advertisers.
Sorry that it didn't work out.
Mid-Winter Festival 2010: Sandy (Chuck) Eddings
We held our first meeting on March 15th, 2009. This meeting was a get acquainted meting. All but two of the committee chairs were in attendance. The committee was very well prepared, all committees were in agreement with the manner of operation Chuck and myself proposed for the committee and "Golden Jubilee".
We have at this time 95 full weekend registrations, 2 youth full weekend, 1 youth Saturday only.
We would like to see this amount triple or more before December. For that to happen, every delegate, every club, and every area needs to be promoting Mid-Winter Festival 2010. Chuck and myself along with Larry and Carol Reetz, our Co-Chairman and Chairman in 2011, will be traveling throughout the state promoting. We would like every area to let us know of any special dances, or a weekend that we could visit with two clubs, so we can visit as many clubs as we possibly can make throughout the state. We want every dancer we can reach to feel welcome at Mid-Winter Festival.
We are working on a tour of some of the Historic Homes in Albany. This may be on Friday morning, or Saturday after the Demonstration dance at the mall. We will be using the shuttle that we use for the demo dance, and we will have enough time for those who would like to have lunch to have lunch at one of the restaurants downtown. More info on this as we get it put together.
Also we are trying to contact as many of the past Chairmen as we can, we would like to do something special for them in recognition of the work they did and have done, and some are still doing. If anyone knows of a past Chairman that is not dancing but that we could contact, please let Chuck and myself know how the contact information for those people. Our e-mail address is chsanedding@comcast.net. Thank you for your help and keep dancing and promoting this great activity.
Summer Festival 2010: Kay (Jim) Rogers
We have hired Marshall Flipo as our featured caller. Daryl Clendenin is going to host him while he is here and do some calling with him also.
Susan Healea and Ron Woolcock are sharing the spotlight as featured cuers.
We are planning a free dance on Thursday night for everyone who is registered and people living in the Pendleton area.
The electrical outlets have been updated to handle the bigger RV rigs.
Ribbons will go on sale in Astoria at this year's Summer Festival. Change 1.
Mid-Winter Festival 2011: Larry (Carol) Reetz
It is good to be back with the Oregon Federation again. I here this weekend just to advise, again, that the 2011 Mid-Winter will be again on the 5th weekend. It makes it nice when we can do this and not interfere with a lot of club dances. A Little Bit of Heaven in 2011 is the theme. Joe Saltel is your caller, Joe and Pat Hilton are your cuers for round dance. We don't have anything yet on clogging.
What I have got to this weekend is my proposed budget. Which was made available to all delegates and officers. I don't know if you want to approach that now or under new business.
Lee Ashwill: I think now Larry. What is that figure?
Larry Reetz: Well what we did was the initial income and such is off of used clothing, a lot of pre-registration and such. Hopefully at the festival in 2010 and the rest of it will be balance of registrations and such to bring us up to that figure. We did this based on 1,200 in attendance at $35 apiece. And as you well know, you don't necessarily reach the full 1,200 at $35, but that is a pre-registration figure. And of course, you will have a number doing full registration, but based on attendance over the last several years and hopefully the increase registration for 2010 maybe we will increased over the 1,200. I tried to be conservative. I cut back on several expense areas that we have dropped away from. We have gotten away from the extra hall we used for clogging by going to the Comfort Suites over there. This is apt to increase our profit margin both for 2010 and 2011, to do everything we can to bring a better money balance to the Federation for our budgets here.
Question from the audience. Does anybody know what dancers were at the last Mid-Winter?
Answer. 1,300 plus, not much over 1,300 but right in that mark.
Oregon Federation News: Vivian Fairburn
I don't have much to report this month. Things are running along smoothly. The last issue was out on time even though River Graphics had some personal issues. She had breast cancer surgery all the while taking care of her diabetic husband with a back problem who had surgery the next week and yet still was able to complete her OFN work. She is a trooper! We are so lucky to have her.
July 5th is the deadline for square and round lessons info for the August and September issues. The listings are free. Please refer to the June OFN for the appropriate information needed for the listing.
Also, many clubs are dark for the summer. June 5th is the deadline for the dark days. Please let us know the date of the first dance in the fall.
We are looking forward to great pictures and articles of summer activities including parades, festivals, and other fun activities. We can always use articles and letters of interest. Since printing our information regarding picture taking, we have received pictures from many of you with much better quality and resolution. Thank you and keep up the good work!
2nd VICE PRESIDENT: Floyd (Jill) Bard
Memorandum for requesting 2009-10 State Directories has been distributed to each Area Delegate. It is critical that your counts are accurate and the memorandum is completed and returned to me at the State Meeting on July 19th. Directories will be distributed at the State Meeting in Garibaldi on September 27. Payment for each Area Council will be required at the time the State Directories are issued. The 2010 Summer and Mid-Winter Festivals must provide their advertising proof to Vivian Fairburn no later than the State Meeting on July 19th to be included in the 2009-10 State Directory. Sylvia Davis, Membership Chairman will be requesting Area and Club information for the directory and Vivian Fairburn and I will do the work with last year's software to provide the printer with the draft directory for printing.
Last year there were 700 directories printed. Currently I have an inventory of 28 directories from 2008-09. I have no record of Eastern Oregon's payment for 5 directories from last year (reported to the Area Delegate at the Mid-Winter State Meeting), and Umpqua Area ordered 30 directories, but paid for 25 and still owes the Federation, (also reported to the Area Delegate at the Mid-Winter State Meeting). The 2009-10 budget for Directory Printing Account equates to an order of no more than 670 State Directories for 2009-10. There will not be a cost overrun for this year's directories.
RECORDING SECRETARY: Dale (Kathy) Worthington
I just want to thank everyone who sent me a copy of their report. It really gives me a head start on getting the minutes typed.
I would just want to make a side note that I was very disappointed that the Summer Festival had to be cancelled. There was a lot of hard work put into it, as those who have put one on knows. I wish the best of support for the 2010 & 2011 Summer Festival.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY: Vivian Fairburn
The By-Laws and Ballots were mailed to all 79 clubs. We received 75% return of each which were given to Marilyn Schmit to take to the meeting.
Since the last meeting I have sent Sympathy Cards to: Pat Young; Paul Arnold family; Laurie Cooley; Dorothy Murray family; Irene Womack; Tony Teuscher; Wayne Beatty, Rita Smith; George Meitzen - his wife Edwina passed away at the end of February. She had been ill for a while. For those of you who didn't know them, they were the printers of the OFN for many, many years; O.J. Hecomovich; Cliff Bennett; Sally Arnold; Pat Fullenwider - her son was the FedEx pilot killed in the Japan plane crash; Ginger Fenn - loss of her husband Ray; Iola Davis - loss of Graham Wood; George Hermann - loss of his mother.
Get Well Cards were sent to: Keith Miles; Floyd Bard; Betty Richmond; Jim Forsman; Keith & Martha Quigley; Lee Ashwill; Lois Klinock; Genevieve Churchill; Patty Hermann; Linda Sauer; Nancy Kinzey; Shirley McCornack; Mike and Linda McBride; Sandra Haynie.
TREASURER: Bill (Annadale) Rooper
I think all of you have a copy of the financial report as of May 11. Each individual classification, the General Fund, the Insurance Fund, the OFN Fund, the Youth Fund are all in the red so far this year. We haven't received any money this year from Mid-Winter, so that will probable wipe out the loss on the General Fund, but the rest of them, regardless of Vivian's accrual basis statement. Cash wise she is losing money. That is not good, because there are not enough people signed up who take the OFN.
Bill Reid is not here and I know there was some interest in the 9-90 forms. I just picked up something out of the CPA magazine. On the web the IRS is offering an on-line course on the new form 9-90. The website is www.stateexempt.org. So if anybody is interested in finding out the real scoop on this new 9-90 form, then that is the place to go because it is from the IRS.
MEMBERSHIP: Sylvia Davis
This year we went to the computer to send out the form for the Club Directory Information and the Council Directory Information. It was not necessary to send out the forms because everyone got them online, so next year I will just send out the 2 letters with the directions.
All the clubs have given me their information, and it should be done by the end of this week.
Thank you very much, you were all very cooperative. So thanks again.
Insurance/USDA: Kay (Jim) Rogers - No Report
PAST PRESIDENT: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit
The time has really flown by since our last meeting, but I have been busy with several hats that I wear for my position.
RANDALL AWARD
Per the instructions in the P&Ps, the letters and forms to gather a new set of nominees were distributed to the delegates at the January meeting. The nominations are due back to me by the July meeting. To date, I have received one. Remember that past nominees who did not win can be re-nominated.
It was my pleasure to pick up Genevieve Churchill and get her out of her house for a full day. I took her to Ione to share in the fun of delivering the Randall Award to George and Lorene Griffith. There were people from all over and it was fun to see past award winners. We had over four squares in attendance and a delicious potluck afterward.
There was no wind in the Gorge that day and it was perfect for sight seeing. Genevieve had a good day and was grateful to get out.
I made George cry, as I knew I would. They are thankful for all the support and appreciated the guests at the dance.
BENEFIT DANCE
A beautiful day blossomed for a barn dance in Silverton. 108 dancers attended the Benefit Dance. The dirt was tampered down, the trailer got used and Jasmo got to meet everyone and even got down and dirty with a roll in the dirt.
I sold out of trailer dangles and IDID dangles and have about 10 of the Jasmo dangles left. I ordered more of the IDID dangles and have a few left to deliver.
I delivered a check to the Adaptive Riding Institute at the grand opening of Vineyard Stables, which will be their new home for riding therapy. A massive building with all the amenities needed. There were several representatives of the ARI (Adaptive Riding Institute) there to accept the donation and I have more money to send them. I'm still waiting for the Emerald Empire Area Council donation before I have a somewhat final figure.
My thanks to the River City Dancers for making the Benefit Dance their destination for a mystery trip. They had written directions to get to the barn and many smiles appeared as they arrived and figured out where they were. They had a great time and went for a catered dinner and tour afterwards.
Thank you letters have been sent to the callers and cuers and the barn owner for their participation. We had a good day.
PUBLICITY/STATE REPORTER: Tony Haskins
My home club, the Checkerboard Squares have ended lessons after a solid 8 months of dancing. We increased membership by 11 people.
Summer festival is a concern. I have written several articles the last few months trying to promote it, as well as everyone else.
The Portland Area Council hosted a Tri-Council Dance January 29th at the Clark County Square Dance Center in Vancouver, Washington. We had the Crew calling, that is, Daryl Clendenin, Les Seeley, and Randy Dibble. Jim Hattrick couldn't make it. Tami Helms cued. We had 30+ squares, approximately 245 people. The Federation President, John Guches and his wife Glory visited. Thank you both. We raised money for Keith Miles grandson who was hit by a car and was in emergency care. The PAC also showed off their new banner.
I danced most of the winter either as an angel for Mainstream or as an angel for Plus lessons with instructor Darrell Kalmbach.
My back went out on me the first part of April, and I had arm surgery in May, so I have been kind of down and out, touch and go.
PAC has a subscription Dance May 29th at the Oak Grove Community Center in Oak Grove. Vivian Fairburn will be there to heighten the excitement, if that is possible. We will have a drawing for 1-year free subscription to the OFN. Terry Halley is calling and Jeanine Norden is cueing. Want to push the OFN guide; we need more subscriptions to the new dancers and to the clubs themselves. They should be jumping on this along with the Directory.
We have the Starlight Parade in Portland on May 30th. The B & Bs will be on the first trailer, I will be pulling both trailers with my truck. If you would like to participate, we will meet on 6th and Flanders at noon. Call the B & Bs for more information if you would like to dance with us.
Don't forget Lake Fair Square Dance weekend, July 17, 18, and 19th at Thurston County Fairgrounds in Olympia, Washington. Mike Sikorsky and Dan Preedy will be calling with Tami Helms cueing. Tickets available at the door.
Don't forget our 29th Annual Carson Campout in Carson, Washington, August 14, 15, & 16th. Caller will be Daryl Clendenin, cuer Yvonne Clendenin for Plus. Caller Bill Reid, cuer Neva Reid for the Mainstream.
Don't forget Central Oregon Roundup the 2nd weekend in August 7th & 8th. Caller is Darin Keith, cuer Randy and Monica Preskitt and that will be at the Sisters High School in Sisters, Oregon. Contact information is 541-504-1364.
Don't forget the Buckeroo's Roundup Dance in Roseburg on June 5th, 6th, & 7th. The callers are Dan Preedy and Dale Roberson, cuer is Dave Cooper.
Subscription to the OFN - Get your new dancers signed up. Lots of information for all the dancers. Good resource and square dance guide.
FINANCIAL ADVISOR: Bill (Neva) Reid - No Report
EDUCATION ADVISOR: None appointed
HISTORIAN: Cheryl (Curt) Lundine
I still need articles from the clubs on special things the clubs are doing and pictures sent to me.
John Guches: Thank you Cheryl. I understand that somebody brought you in a box of things too this weekend?
Delegates take it back to your clubs also. All the information we can get to Cheryl for our history will be greatly appreciated.
Tony Haskins: Excuse me, I want to say one thing to everybody, I have computer and e-mail. ynot50@netzero.net.
BMI/ASCAP: Ralph Lambert
All of the 2009 Mid-Winter Festival BMI/ASCAP items have been taken care of.
Everything is current with both BMI and with ASCAP.
The BMI Invoices the Federation in January of each year for our annual payment. The Federation recoups the monies for the Mid-Winter and Summer Festivals. Since this year's Summer Festival has been cancelled, this amount will not be reimbursed.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES: Lisa Gibbens (Mike Kious) - No Report
John Guches: Our Youth Activities Coordinator is not going to be here this weekend due a prior pre-nuptial arrangement. In her stead, Carolyn Bosch would like to make a presentation to the Federation.
Carolyn Bosch: I am reading this report for Alyssa Sawyer, and she was the Chairman for KASH for KIDS.
On March 22nd, 2009, the Silver Stars Mini Stars hosted the third Kash for Kids Dance. At the dance, Wade Driver and the committee made a decision to make the 2009 dance be the last Kash for Kids Benefit Dance. We had five squares in attendance with Wade Driver calling and Dorothy Lowder cueing. Thank you for all the support in the last three years as the Silver Stars' Mini Stars have raised scholarship money to support Oregon, Washington, and the club's own youth members attending college. We present a check to the Oregon Federation's Youth College Scholarship Fund.
I would also like to thank everybody that supported it, unfortunately, all our kids grew up. I would also encourage somebody else to pick it up.
ORDTA: Dennis (Elaine) Smith
ORDTA held their spring meeting on Saturday, April 4, at the Emerald Square and Round Dance Center in Springfield.
An investigation in to the availability of records for the potential Classic ROM for March 2010 was initiated. Final selection will occur at the fall meeting.
For the education program, John and Suzette Juhring presented teaching techniques for the whaletail, impetus, and chasse.
ORDTA's fall meeting will be held on Saturday, October 3, at 10:00am at the Emerald Square and Round Dance Center in Springfield. The tentative education program will focus on DanceMaster and Navigating ORDTA's website.
ROUND DANCE SCREENING: Barbara (Larry) Schaumburg
Round of the Month
May 2009: "YOU CAN'T HAVE HAVE IT"
Chosen by: Interstate Highlanders Area
June 2009: "TELLING EVERYBODY"
Chosen by: Lincoln - Tillamook Area
July 2009: "LUCKY CHARM"
Chosen by: Mid-Willamette Area
August 2009: "LIES SHE NEVER BELIEVED"
Chosen by: Portland Area
CALLER ADVISOR: Bill (Neva) Reid - No Report
WEBMASTER: Tim (Kathy) Roberts
The current draft of the revamped Practices and Procedures removes many of the sections of historical information. In case this survives through to adoption, I have moved much of the historical information to the Federation's web site. You can now see the list of past summer festivals, past presidents, Randall Award winners, and past Benefit Dances.
The section of online insurance forms has been updated. In addition to the forms that were already there, you may now submit your list of class members online, and you may submit accident and injury reports online. Remember that class members are covered for free, as long as you report their names and addresses.
Please remember to check the Federation web site once in a while to make sure the information about your club is accurate. I do not automatically find out about changes in dance dates or locations, or class schedules, but if you drop me a note, I can get the web page updated in a matter of a few minutes.
SHOWCASE OF IDEAS: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit
We have not as of May 12, received our table assignment, but should in a few days. We have our magazines, OFNs and roses and they will head to Long Beach with Dale & Kathy Worthington. Thank you to them for taking them to California for us. I will take Mid-Winter registrations with me to place on the table.
This makes 19 years that Ron and I have represented Oregon in the Showcase. Next year Oregon will receive the 25-year award from the National Executive Committee. It will be our pleasure to accept it.
STATE FAIR REPORT: Tony Haskins
We are all set up on the State Fair Square Dancing. I have a list; I will give you the dates and times, who is doing the dancing and the calling. There is no availability left. Every slot is filled with dancers and clubs, so take that off your worry list.
| Date | Time | Location | Club | Caller/Cuer |
| Fri, Aug 28th | 1 - 2 pm | Center Stage | River City Dancers | Les Seeley/ |
| 4 - 5 pm | Jackman Long Bldg | Tami Helms | ||
| Sat, Aug 29th | 11:30 - 1 pm | Center Stage | Checkerboard Square | George Hermann |
| Fri, Sep 4th | 2 - 3 pm | Spirit of Ore | Mid-Willamette | Marilyn Schmit (Rep) |
| Sat, Sep 5th | 2 - 3 pm | Spirit of Ore | B & Bs | Terry Halley |
The letter attached to this menu provides directions to Square Dancing at the State Fair in August and September 2009. The only remaining spot available to dance is on September 4th, which has now been filled. There are also maps attached with marked designated areas. Everything is off 17th street and through the Red Gate.
New rules governing square dancers this year: The names of those people participating in this venue must be called in to Sara Hamler-Dupras no later that 8-15-09. This includes your club caller and cuer. Your club PIC (person in charge) needs to do this and I suggest that you do this right away. You will also need parking passes. Not everyone will get one so car-pooling is good. This is another reason to call your dancers and callers names in early. Be sure you ask Sara for parking passes when you call the names in for dancing. You may also e-mail her at: sara.hamler-dupras@state.or.us.
DELEGATE MEETING REPORT: Steve (Valerie) Murphy
The delegates held a meeting yesterday at 2pm. We went over the items on the agenda and discussed them.
There were quite a number of comments on the CPA or IRS Committee. I will mention some of the things that were brought up. The clubs and councils do not know if they are tax exempt or not. There is apparently no way of knowing, because the IRS doesn't have that information I've been told by the people who have looked into it. We have heard that the Federation has a list of that, and if they do, the delegates would to have it made available to pass on to their clubs what status their clubs or councils are in as far tax is concern.
There were questions about the money that has been allocated for a tax attorney. We decided that what we would like is for all the delegates over the next 2 months, until the meeting get questions and direct them to the Financial Advisor. The Financial Advisor will take questions from everybody in the Federation. Through e-mail he will filter them down and get a list of questions and present them at a meeting and modify them so we won't waste any time with the attorney. We have a limited time with the attorney. So we feel that is the best way to get the questions to the attorney is through the Financial Advisor.
The Insurance Committee, the status of that had been reported previously that the club ballots are out to fix the By-Laws, this if for a By-Law change. We must do that before we can go to the P&Ps to start addressing not only the insurance money as a separate fund, but also the festival funds and the OFN funds and anything that is outside of the direct control of the Treasurer. These we feel they all have to be addressed. On the committee of this, I believe this was a 3 or 4 people committee. I was one member and this is my last meeting, so the President will either have to replace me or go with, I believe I was the only delegate on there and you don't feel you would like to go without a delegate on there.
The Caller Grant Committee I felt, and I got the feeling that the other delegates felt, that we were not clear on what is happening with this. There were comments made at the last meeting that we should have grants available for callers and cuers to go to schools kind of like a scholarship type of thing. Somebody mentioned at the last meeting that has already been in effect and that money has been setting there and never been used. I am not quite sure what has been going on with that. I believe that may be addressed later on under Old Business.
The P&P change, a number of people did not, I don't think all the delegates looked at that closely. I did mention what was going to happen here today as far as the change. We do need to know whether it is going to be a yes or up or down vote on the entire changes or can we nitpick each one and make modifications to this? We feel that the P&Ps after they are updated they should be reviewed on an annual basis. At first we talked about a standing committee to do this to be kept up so they won't get 15, 20, 30 years out of date. It was pointed out that this comes under the duties of the Recording Secretary, under Section V-15, paragraph 8. I will read that for you real quick. "In consultation with the State Parliamentarian, keeps the Practices and Procedures up to date, maintaining the original in his/her files, and a duplicate for the President's files." As far as I know this has not been done. It is my intention to make a motion to have this brought before the Federation on an annual basis to be chosen by the entire body what meeting and to report outdated P&P procedures and recommend changes on an annual basis. I ask the President if this a proper time for that motion or to wait until we get to the P&P portion?
John Guches: You can go ahead and make your motion now Steve. The P&P discussion is going to be a separate issue.
Steve Murphy: I move that the Recording Secretary provide an annual report to the Federation as to the current ness of the Practices and Procedures as per P&P Section V-15, paragraph 8. Seconded by Dennis Marsh.
John Guches: Steve do you have that written out? Can you bring it to me please? I am getting some instructions from the side here. I am continually learning this job. The reason I had Steve bring this up, we had a motion and Seconded and I am required to reread that motion before we go to discussion. The motion is that the Recording Secretary provide an annual report to the Federation as to the current ness of the Practices and Procedures as per P&P Section V-15, paragraph 8. I will open the floor to discussion.
Steve Murphy: The P&Ps are not binding on us and I feel as time goes by many of the procedures become outdated for one reason or another. When it becomes outdated, it behooves us to change those immediately to the current way we do things. The P&Ps are suppose to be a guide for all of us as to how we follow the By-Laws specific instructions. If we let them go for as long as we have, then they are not usable for that purpose. If we do it on an annual basis, I believe we can keep it under control. It might 4 or 5 pages worth rather than 120 pages worth, which we are dealing with now.
My intention in making the motion was the fact that the Recording Secretary in conjunction with the Parliamentarian already has this duty, however, it has not been done. They can do it and keep it to themselves. My intention is to require them to do that now and make their conclusions available to the Federation, to the board itself, the requirement once a year, rather than just letting it go, even if they do it themselves privately.
Dale Worthington: I would like to amend the motion to where it says the report will be given annually to board on a set date every year. To: At the Summer Festival every year the report will be given to the Board as to the proposed changes and amendments to the P&Ps. Seconded by Sylvia Davis.
John Guches: We will call for a vote on the amended motion. Basically what I understand, is that the motion was to require an annual report to the Federated Board at the Summer Festival each year, a check on the P&Ps and recommended changes and changes that had been made. Vote on the amended motion. Motion carried unanimously.
John Guches: Now we will go to the motion as amended. The motion was "I move that the Recording Secretary provide an annual report to the Federation as to the current ness of the Practices and Procedures as per Section V-15, paragraph 8. The amendment to that was that the report would be given to the Board at the Summer Festival meeting." Vote on the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
Bill Rooper: Earlier on you were talking about taxes and non-profit. I would like to point out that there are two designations. When the club incorporates with the State they incorporate as a non-profit organization. In order to get tax-exempt status you have to file with the IRS. Normally, dues paying organizations are not tax-exempt. What tax-exempt means is that if your make a donation to that organization you can deduct it on your income tax. We are non-profit, but we are subject to tax if we make a profit on a business proposition that doesn't have anything to do with the main purpose. Most of us don't get involved with that, but this was the thing that Bill (Reid) was going check with the CPA as to exactly where these benefit dances or raffles or one thing or another are subject to that. I don't think that there are hardly any of the clubs that have to worry about this filing with the IRS. You get a letter from the IRS this year for the first time if you are registered with them. If they want to know something, you can tell them no, generally speaking, and that will be the end of it. A lot of the clubs are not even registered with the IRS. Personally, I don't think it is necessary, but you have to file with the State in order to get non-profit set up. But, you are not a tax-exempt organization.
Lee Ashwill: I would like verification for the minutes on Steve's report. You spoke about a tax attorney. I believe if my memory serves me correctly, this body authorized Mr. Reid to meet with a CPA. I would like to clarify that that is in fact the case.
John Guches: That is correct, it was with a CPA.
Steve Murphy: I would like to reply to what Bill Rooper just said. It was my understanding also that the tax-exempt status from the Federal IRS was a rarity, however, I believe at the last meeting Tim Roberts said for a fact that over half of the clubs in the State of Oregon have tax-exempt status. That was a shock to me. The delegates yesterday were questioning what status our clubs were in and they can't find out on the web or through the IRS.
Bill Rooper: I don't believe what Tim said was correct. The Federation, for example, is a 501 C4 organization. In order to be tax-exempt with the IRS, you have to be a 501 C3. It's a minor difference, but the difference is there are all kinds of organizations, the Elks, the Lions, the Moose, and chamber of commerce, all these organizations are non-profit organization. But, they are not necessarily tax-exempt. If they go out and do a commercial thing that is competing with another commercial organization, then they are taxed on that profit from that fair or whatever they are doing.
Steve Murphy: Well, the delegates were explained the difference between the Federal and the State and all this. The KC Squares and I believe most of the clubs are a 501 C7, a mutual benefit organization. The KC Squares are tax-exempt with the IRS and other clubs have indicated they are too. They are wondering what their requirements are without getting into trouble.
Bill Rooper: I am looking at the tax-exempt to you means that the clubs are tax-exempt.
Steve Murphy: That is correct. The KC Squares are tax-exempt.
Bill Rooper: Tax-exempt as far as the IRS is concerned means a 501 C3 organization like a church or charity. It is just a matter of semantics with words is all. Tax-exempt, non-profit, overall is pretty much the same except if you are tax-exempt according to the IRS then people can make a donation and take a deduction. That is the 501 C3. The rest of them are all non-profit organizations.
Carol Bro: I just retired from a non-profit organization and it is a 501 C3, and this may make a difference. We discovered a little over a year ago that the raffle rules in the State of Oregon are very strict. If you are doing raffles, there are some really tight guidelines you need to follow. I think it may be only because we were a 501 C3, but I think it might behoove us to have them also look into the rules for doing raffles because they are very, very strict.
John Guches: On that note, before we go into recess, I would like to talk with Fran Westphal, Valerie Murphy, and Gail Domine during recess.
Interstate Highlanders Council: Steve (Valerie) Murphy
I want to thank you all for coming to my corner of Oregon. I know it's a long drive for almost everyone, but keep in mind that the long drive is what the southern Oregon people do to attend just about every Federation meeting. When future meetings are held here or in the Rogue/Siskiyou's area to the west, you might consider staying a few extra days and making a mini-vacation out of it. There are many things to do and see that just aren't available in the northern 2/3s of the state.
The Klamath Country Squares have held a potato Festival for the last 33 years. It was originally a 3-day festival that has diminished down to a one night dinner and dance. This year the K.C. Squares are expanding the event to a 2-day Potato Festival. They have arranged for the Festival's Saturday night dance to be held at the Klamath County Museum building in the downtown area of Klamath Falls. A lot has been done but much still needs to be finalized. You received flyers with enough information to at least put it on your calendars.
The Interstate Highlanders Council will hold elections next month for new officers. I don't know who the new Interstate Highlanders Delegate will be, but it won't be me. Valerie and I have been the delegates for over 3 years and have enjoyed every minute of it. Don't be surprised if you see us in the peanut gallery at future meetings.
Lincoln-Tillamook Council: Wally (Sandi) Brunelle
I am with the Toledo 49ers, to kind of make a small point; we do not dance in Toledo. It is just a technical name thing. They use to dance at the high school in Toledo and when they upped the rent fee too much, we moved out. We are now dancing at the Community Hall in Gleneden Beach, which is on Highway 101 halfway between Newport and Lincoln City, just north of Depoe Bay. We invite you to come on down. We dance the 1st and 3d Saturday of the month. Come and enjoy a nice beach trip down. We are having a lot of fun. In the summer it is whatever attire you want to dance in, well not bikinis. I just wouldn't to see Dale or Floyd in a bikini.
The Sea Twirlers, which are a traveling club located in Lincoln City, attended Johnny Preston Dance held in Newberg and the Hawaiian Luau Dance in McMinnville. They plan to attend the Toledo 49ers 60th Birthday Dance at the Gleneden Beach Community Club on June 20th. They are also busy planning their own 13th birthday dance on Sunday afternoon, September 13, at the Gleneden Beach Community Club. George Hermann will be the caller and Patty Hermann will be the cuer.
The Toledo 49ers sponsored a couple of Teddy-Bear dances to collect Teddy Bears for the hospital in Newport. They also collected canned and packaged food for the Lincoln County Food Bank. The club plans on being dark the first dance in June in order to attend the Strawberry Festival Dance in Lebanon. Several member couples have returned to the local area after spending the winter in Arizona, among them being Ray and Betty Jones and Al and Fran Westphal. The club is busy planning their 60th birthday dance, which will be held Saturday evening, June 20th and will be preceded by a potluck dinner. The caller for the dance will be Scott Zinser and the cuer will be John Juhring. Flyers will be mailed out to clubs in the nearby areas. Thank you, we hope to see you at the beach. Come down and play with us.
Mid-Willamette Area Council: Curt (Cheryl) Lundine
At it's April meeting, the Mid-Willamette Area Council voted a donation to the Adaptive Riding Institute (H.O.R.S.E.S.).
The Mid-Willamette Area has remitted payment to the State Federation on behalf of all of the individuals clubs in the Area.
The Rythym Rockers youth square dance club is now inactive. It is sorry to see that if a club has to go out it is a youth club. They were sponsored by a 4-H organization and once the 4-H activities were over they decided they didn't want to continue dancing. Sorry to see that.
Portland Area Council: Al Wolf (Gail Domine)
The PAC has elected council officers for 2009-2010. President is Tony Haskins, Vice President Verna France, Secretary Annadale Rooper, and Treasurer Enid Wheeler. They will be installed at our "picnic meeting" on June 15th.
Several clubs have or are about to celebrate anniversaries. Happy Rock'rs celebrated their 47th on March 28th. Happy Hoppers plus club celebrated their big "50" on April 4th, the Bachelor 'N' Bachelorettes turned 44 on April 15th, Country Capers were 53 on April 18th, Silver Stars were 29 on April 25th, the Oaky Doaks are now 49 years old as of May 9th, and Swap & Swing will have a big "60th" celebration on June 7th, and the River City Dancers will only be 19 on June 13th. Congratulations to all clubs, especially those who have been active for so many years.
Jim Hattrick celebrated 50 years of calling at the Happy Hoppers dance; not all 50 years were with the Happy Hoppers though.
The Silver Stars are now dancing at the Hazel Dell Grange; the same location as the Buzzin' Bees. Check your OFN for the address and times of dances. The Silver Stars have permanently cancelled their Memorial Day weekend of dancing.
The Tri Council dance held on January 31st was a huge success with 245 dancers.
PAC will have a float in the Rose Festival Starlite Parade on May 30th. The Bachelor 'N' Bachelorettes will be dancing on the float.
The Happy Rock'rs have hired new caller, Mike Kious. Debbie Combs will continue as their cuer. The Squaws & Paws will now have Jim Hattrick calling their 2nd Friday dances and Randy Dibble will call their 4th Saturday dances.
The Canby Cloverleafs attended the Pacific Northwest Square Dance Festival in Kent, Washington, on May 1st and 2nd; however, they were not able to enter any competition due to lack of two boys. They hope to be able to participate next year.
The River City Riders will perform six times at the Nationals in Long Beach, California, in June. They will give a free performance on Sunday, May 31st at the Milwaukee Community Club in Milwaukee at 4pm. If you want to know what this is all about, come see the demonstration. Also, see a photo of the dancers in the April issue of the OFN.
The next 5th Friday PAC dance will be on May 29th at the Oak Groove Community Center. Terry Halley will call and Jeanine Norden will cue. This will be an OFN subscription dance. Purchase two tickets to the dance and receive on of them free with a renewal or new subscription.
Mr. President: The Portland Area Council would like to submit a bid for the 2011 Summer Festival for the second weekend in July at a location in the Portland area yet to be determined.
A complete budget and all information as to location, dates, camping facilities, and other pertinent information needed to sponsor this festival will be submitted at the July State Meeting. Tony Haskins - Chairman. Respectfully submitted, PAC Board Members; Steve Rogers, President.
Rogue Sis-Q Council: Glory Guches
We have been busy in our council with student graduations, festivals, and club birthday dance and club officer elections.
The Charlie Brown's held their annual Grand March on Hunger Benefit Dance in March for canned food for the food banks. April found them helping the Lantz's Dantzers celebrate their birthday. The following weekend found the Charlie's in the Pear Blossom Festival, dancing on the float in the Pear Blossom Parade, being part of a park demo after the parade and still had energy to dance to Scot Byars calling and his lovely wife Erin Byars cueing Friday and Saturday night!
Circle N Square held a Shamrock Ball Dance in March and a Swingin' to the Oldies Dance in April. The Circle N Square celebrated with Lantz's Dantzers on their birthday and enjoying the Blossom Festival also.
Lantz's Dantzers celebrated their birthday on April 4th with a potluck dinner followed by a dance with Lawrence Johnston calling and Freddie Loveless cueing. The Lantz's also enjoyed the Pear Blossom Festival.
Star Promenaders went dark for the Lantz's Dantzers Birthday Dance and the Pear Blossom Festival. The Star Promenaders have been very busy putting together their 36th Annual Diamond Lake Festival held at Diamond Lake, Oregon. This year the featured caller is Dan Nordbye from Mesa, Arizona, and the featured cuer is Tami Helms from Portland, Oregon. Come on down to sunny Southern Oregon and enjoy dancing at one of Oregon's beautiful lakes.
South Coast Council: Chuck (Coleeta) Quigley
Beachcombers: Beachcombers are gearing up for their Birthday Dance the 4th of July. Hopefully all clubs have flyers about it and also their Labor Day Weekend Dance. They also have a fantastic beginners class of mostly teens in progress. The excitement on the South Coast is on an all time high!
Jefferson State Squares: No Report
Saint's and Aint's: Lessons were completed with 17 graduates. All are continuing to dance in all clubs of the South Coast. We are having a Cinco de Mayo dance that will be our beginner's dance next week.
Sets-In-Order: Our lessons we started after Mid-Winter have been a complete success. We have over 20 returning or beginning dancers that are excited and ready to join the club. Our angels including many from Coos Bay and Port Orford have also been soooo reliable in helping. The South Coast is really picking up and the last three dances … at all three clubs … have had over 7 squares dancing. That's Exciting!
Sunset Empire Council: Kathy (Dale) Worthington
The Hayshakers had three special meetings to see what the Federation could do to help us. We would like to see the Federation run ads in newspapers, on the radio, and on TV. Have a web site that links all the clubs to the city/town they dance in. Have a link from the Chamber of Commerce to the club sites that are in the town. Our second and third meeting was to report back on what we found out.
The Club was very upset that they had to cancel the 2009 Summer Festival. People had put in many hours to bring this together. On the expenses that could not be recouped, is this to be borne by the Hayshakers or can some of it be shared by the Federation? I also have a breakdown as to where the money went.
John Guches: We will take that up under New Business.
Tualatin Valley Council: Mike (Sally) Duyck
We have again been notified by one of our clubs that they are about to fold. This will be the second loss in 2009 for TVC. The Fireballs have notified us that they will be holding their dances for free through the summer and then reconsider whether to disband. We lost the Four-N-8ers earlier this year.
The Coast Swingers are active and have several regular dances scheduled throughout the summer. The Eager Beavers are also active and have four dances per month and will be holding a class for plus on Wednesdays in the am. Hoedowners are active and growing with completion of their mainstream class in February. Mix n Mingles are proceeding throughout the summer with plus dancing. R Square D is dancing through the summer on first Saturdays and 3rd Fridays. Sunset Prominaders has changed their dance night to 1st and 3rd Saturdays. Toe Draggers has completed their class this spring and a round dance class. They are now holding a Round Dance from 7:00 to 8:00 pm on the first Friday, prior to their regular dance. Tri Squares is also very active. Valley Squares has completed a mainstream class this spring and is active.
We have two teen callers who are to be requesting assistance to attend a caller's lab this summer.
Ferrous Steinka has added a map locating all of the square and round dance halls in Oregon and near vicinity to the web site www.hillsborohoedown.com. This could be cross-linked to other web sites to allow further usage.
TVC clubs donating to the scholarship fund are as follows: Eager Beavers, Toe Draggers, Coast Swingers, and Fireballs.
Umpqua Area Council: Frank (Rita) Schuchard
The Boots & Calicoos our traveling club had their 56th dance. They had 7 squares three of them came from Coos Bay in April.
The Timber 8's, the Plus club, will be dark June, July, and most of August. In September, a major change for them, they will begin dancing the 2nd and 4th Saturday. They had been dancing the 1st and 3rd Fridays. So there will probably be a dance at the barn every week now.
The Buckeroos will hold the Buckeroo Roundup June 5th, 6th and 7th. Dale Roberson calling Friday and Dan Preedy Saturday and Dave Cooper cueing the whole weekend. It is $21.00 for the package and I do have ribbons in case anybody would like to purchase ribbons for that. We are going to have a silent auction. The Buckeroos also graduated 12 students.
Pioneers & Petticoats are doing quite will with their new caller Kenji Wheatly and graduated 8 students. They are hosting the June 4th Wild Safari Dance in Winston, 11:00am potluck with dancing starting at 2 or 2:30pm.
Dancing Friends are having a round dance party on Tuesday 7 - 10 pm at the Buckeroo Barn. Keil Koozer is cueing. They are also having a graduation. They will also be hosting a Subscription Dance at our 5th Saturday Dance which will be held on the 5th Sunday, 2 - 4:30pm.
Douglas County Fair which year we have cuers and callers from August 4th to 9th.
An added notation: We have finally come into the future. We have a website for Umpqua Area Council. www.umpquaareasquaredancers.org.
Blue Mountains Council: David Stutzman
The Council will hold a joint dance with the Washington Blue Mountain Council on the fifth Saturday, May 30. The dance (and meetings) will be held at the Milton-Freewater Community Building and will be called by Bill Reid and cued by Neva.
La Grande Star Promenaders: The Club had another cold winter in the Grange Hall but with the new roof installed last fall they were not worried about getting wet. The gas heater that was installed to replace the old oil furnace is just not adequate for the size of the building. Participation in Club activities has been down with some evenings not having a square of dancers. Several club members participated in the Spring Fling at Baker City. They will be dancing a reduced schedule this summer with only one dance a month on the third Thursday.
Backer City Elkhorn Swingers: The Club completed another successful Spring Fling Weekend last month. They are well on the way for next years' event with caller, cuer, and hall already secured. Their lessons went well this year with high hopes in being able to retain the new dancers. Although they just graduated, the new dancers seemed to enjoy dancing at the Spring Fling.
Milton-Freewater Muddy Frogs: The Club will have a reduced schedule through the summer dancing with one dance a month on the third Saturday.
Central Oregon Council: Carol Bro
We have come to an end of another year of lessons for most of the Central Oregon clubs. We are pleased to tell you that we have over 35 new dancers to add to our family this year. Thanks to the help of all the angels in Central Oregon.
Central Oregon dancers have gotten their RVs out and this is our first trip of the year. We are ready for another summer of travel, fellowship, and dancing. We have lots of festivals and dances to look forward to around Oregon and Washington.
We have three great dances scheduled here in Central Oregon this summer. So as you look for a time to get away for a few days, consider coming over and joining us. The first one will be on May 31st with a "Wake Up to Summer" Dance called by Dean Black and cued by Dave Cooper held at the Pine Forest Grange in Bend. The next one on our schedule is our famous Central Oregon Roundup the second weekend in August. If you look around this room for one of the tallest guys and one of the shortest gals, they have come all the way from Central Oregon to make ribbons available for you today. So if you want a ribbon to the dance (garbled) here today. If you can make a vacation of it, come for the Roundup, and spend a few days enjoying the many things to do in Central Oregon. Join us on August 13th for a night of dancing with Mike Sikorsky and Steve Murphy cueing.
There continues to by couple of diehard squares that are challenged by a caller that pushes us out of our comfort levels with advanced plus and A-1. That caller is Jim Steele and we always look forward to our Wednesday night challenge. We hope that one day soon we will be able to join other advanced dancers in a square. But for now we only torture our close friends. Yes we are still friends and the proof of that is that there is a square of us here this weekend, RVing, dancing, and enjoying the fellowship of our good friends from Oregon.
Eastern Oregon Council: Jim (Kay) Rogers - No Report
Emerald Empire Council: Dennis Marsh
The Wolf Pack Friday night held a Silent Auction for the Raptor Center. The club went on Saturday to the Raptor Center to present the check and went out to pizza afterwards.
We do have a new club, it is called the Young Guns. They will be dancing on the 1st Saturday in (garbled). This is a young group that goes from teens to 31. The caller is Bob Ewing he is also the caller of the Whirl-A-Ways, their new caller. He has organized this and they are going through the process of all the paperwork to present to (garbled) if they haven't already.
Possibly in the OFN you heard of the Boots & Sandals had a problem with their barn. The council did a benefit dance for them because they can't dance so they are trying to get it repaired. I was supposed to bring a proposal to ask for a grant to help them out on this. However, they could not give me amounts on what it was going to cost. So it is pushed off until July now. Hopefully, we can do something to help them out and get the hall back in dancing order.
John Guches: Wally you had a comment?
Wally Brunelle: After my big push to get you to come down to the Central Oregon Coast, we have a little bit of bad news. The Toledo 49ers dance on June 20th will probably be our last. They can not get people to come forth to be officers which is forcing us into a position of folding. Possibly. I think having heard comments from around here at this meeting, there may be more alternatives than just folding. But this remains to be seen, so I though I would let everybody know.
Lee Ashwill: Dennis, do the Boots & Sandals own that building? Answer: Yes
OLD BUSINESS:
Bill Rooper: I don't think he has had a chance to, his wife's father got ill and he hasn't been able to do much of anything.
I have been rather neglectful in pursuing this even further that what it was reported at the last meeting. I did check with a few, but I have not received any other input from the delegates as to what they would like to see of this Scholarship Grant/Fund for Callers and Cuers and others. I have also talked to some that said they don't ever remember seeing it. So I think what is going to have to happen is that I am going to have to resubmit it and if nothing else ask them to email me back saying they received it. Then the committee can go a little further with it making its recommendations to the Board. If that is acceptable to the person who submitted it.
Lee Ashwill: Depending on what happens with the grants today, we may want to bring that off the table.
At the last meeting we had discussed what we did to the P&Ps. It was online vie Vivian, and if you set for 2 ½ hours with Vivian on the phone, you know what I have gone through. What we are asking here is that we have gone in and we have deducted approximately 50 pages. We are not eliminating anything. This was put out so you could see what it looks like. We are asking for an approval on this in its entirety. The reason for that, if you go in and take a character out that has been added to or struck out, you would have to vote on that particular item. If another item in the same paragraph would have to be voted on the same way later down. We have eliminated this amount of pages from the actual P&Ps. We are not taking it out of the history of the Federation. We are going to put this in additional documents. It is going to be there, but not part of the P&Ps. We want to, according to Floyd, at least cut this in half. We haven't done that. We can't get there yet. What we are asking is that all the recommendations that were given back to Vivian, myself, and to Dennis Marsh we have put in this document at this time. We need overall approval on this so that we don't have to spend 3 days on it, hacking it over. Now the comments of a lot of you, one person doesn't like this particular item, another person doesn't like this or eliminating that. This is fine. We are trying to keep it in committee after this is approved and we are going give you a time to make those corrections in this body. The way it is going to come across this time is it is under a rule called Orders of the Day. It will not have the authority of the chair to rule on it as in the Constitution and By-Laws. That way we can approve the whole document. If we don't pass it that way then Floyd has a document of 154 pages. It is non debatable. It is up to the Chair, once the motion has been made, to accept it or not. And a yes or no vote is the only thing that the outcome can come on it. It sounds pretty thick, but we are trying to get down to a manageable section so that we can make improvements on it and take the historical stuff and insurance stuff and the grant fund and put it in particular documents under particular (dates) of this body. Other than that, we have taken all considerations we possibly can right now. We need a document we can work with.
Lee Ashwill: Mr. President, I would just like to make clear so it goes in the minutes this way. As I understand that, we are going to approve the document, and I appreciate the work these three folks did, I am glad I didn't have to do it. But we are going to approve that document, we have until, I believe the date was Mid-Winter 2010, to then make changes to what's in it. So if there is something in there that I don't agree with, if I send my change in to the committee it will be put back in that way, or are they just going to do what they want to do, not what comes in from the body?
Bob Bosch: I have to explain this right. If Mr. Ashwill doesn't want a particular item eliminated, or he wants something added to it, he would go line by line item put it in front of this board and the board would have to vote on it. We don't randomly make changes. We were asked to make random changes in trying to deduct this down to half. This is where the auxiliary documents are coming from. If we want to keep a couple paragraphs in there, then we will have to go in and strike out what we don't want add what we want to put in and be brought in front of this body as P&P change. The body would deal with it.
Bill Rooper: As I understand it, what you are asking us to do is approve those changes that were presented to us at Mid-Winter. Then we have the options to put them back in and put some more information back in. It seems to me like that is the reverse way of doing it. I think we should take it section by section and make the changes to that as we go along. I think Floyd said something about it and I would second a motion to eliminate some report forms and stuff like that, but as to the contents of the P&Ps I am against it.
Barbi Ashwill: As an interested dancer, is it my understanding that these revisions came out to each of the delegates and you have had a chance to review all of these, as well as the officers?
Bob Bosch: This was at the Mid-Winter meeting. Vivian had this in her possession. They were to contact her for the whole script. All the changes were there.
Barbi Ashwill: I have two questions, one of the committee and one of the delegates. First one of the committee, is that as I understand it one of the changes that is in this new revised version is the fact that the Parliamentarian of this body has to be certified. And I also understand that there are only two people that we know of in the State of Oregon who have this certification. So I ask of this committee when you are doing everything for the good of the dancers why was that decision made. My second question is to the delegates. Have you read these revisions and if you have not read them, why have you not read them?
Bob Bosch: Barbi on the comment of being certified, you can go to Chemeketa or Multnomah (community college) and take an 8-hour course in it or a 24-hour course in it. That would be sufficient. We do not want a professional parliamentarian, which requires a five-part test and 2 - 3 years of study. We don't want that. We don't want a person to come off the street and say I am a parliamentarian. It is up to the President, he can go outside this body for a parliamentarian.
Sandy Eddings: I just need some clarification. If I am understanding the revisions which you are making. The stuff you are taking out you are going to put in to an additional document? Is that going to be a separate document from Practices and Procedures or is it going to be in the Practices and Procedures?
Bob Bosch: In the Practices and Procedures this is suppose to be how we are doing business here in this organization. There are things like insurance forms that should be in a pamphlet or another document that is given to Membership. There is stuff and such things as financial documents that are outdated as of last January. What we would do is remove those and put them in a document and give it to the Financial Advisor. There are a lot of documents in here. We are not losing them, we are just making business part of the Practices and Procedures small enough so we can find something when it comes up and doesn't take 2 weeks to find it.
Floyd Bard: Thank you Sandy for leading me in to my portion of my concerns. That is exactly where I am coming from the changes to the Practices and Procedures. My feeling is that we have three distinctive issues or sections that we work with, that the committee worked with. Like Bob said, we have forms, sample letters and we have documents that are in the Practices and Procedures that should be extracted and maintained with the respective office or chairman or as a separate document. That is so simple to take care of that it is unbelievable. The other is pencil-whipping as we call it or word-smithing. That is going in and changing sentences or paragraph to make them appropriate to our English language or whatever. There are some of those changes that did that as well. That doesn't change the third issue, which is by far the largest, and that is changing the Practices and Procedures that removes intent of the duties and responsibilities. I think as a prudent organization every voting member of this organization needs to clearly understand what those changes are doing to our organization and how we are changing the intent. Now I am not in favor, as though as simple as it sounds, that we could do a blanket motion, second, and vote and adopt all the changes and have until Mid-Winter in 2010 to go back and undo what we did. I don't like doing something, spinning wheels, then going back and undoing it. I feel if you can't do it right the first time, then why are you doing it. My feeling is that we can address the documents, we address the sentence structuring, the word-smithing, but the intent I think we need to leave alone. I am going to tell you delegates and the rest of the officers here are the changes. I looked at them, I also got some input from Marilyn, got some input from other sources that did look at it, and I did have some very distinctive concerns. One of them happens to be Section V-15, paragraph 8, which has been removed. Which if you'll refer to, and see as the Duties of the Recording Secretary dealing with Practices and Procedures. The pages don't align with this document, which is the changed document and the current working document of the Practices and Procedures. We are off by a page all the way down through the line. I don't know how that happened, because Ron and I just figured that out today. If we don't have the right page number associated with section, then we have a lot of things that kind of slipped through the cracks here. My point is that can go ahead and deal with the documents, we can deal with the word-smithing and the sentence structuring and then take the intent portion of these changes and come back. You know, we are not going to die if we don't get this done in 60-days or 90-days or 120-days or 6-months. We are not going to dissolve be we are not getting this done. We will be hurting really badly if we don't do it right the first time. I would make the recommendation that the intent changes not be touched and come back at Mid-Winter and then we vote on the intent. That might be a longer meeting, if so, roll up your sleeves ladies and gentlemen and lets get it done.
John Guches: Actually, Floyd, you are okay to make a motion in regards to that. The discussion Bob and I have been having is what we think we need to do right now is refer it back to the committee and let the committee work directly with the officers and delegates to address these issues as brought up at this meeting. Bob was talking to me about possibly in July bringing back the workable document that we can actually look at. Then either in September, September I will stay away from. The November meeting we can really look at these changes. By doing that I would request that every delegate get a copy of this. I know Vivian will mail it to you if she has not already. Then go through it please, because it is your document. It is not mine, it is not the Parliamentarian, its' your document to the State. I have got a copy of all the changes myself and I have not even made my recommendations to it because of the position I am in. I don't want to sway anything my way or their way. I am a neutral party to this. That is what I am going to request.
The disk that Bob was talking about, that has this on it, is about 1.2 megabits. It is a little bit larger than a CD, so it will be on a DVD instead. There are all the changes for the stuff there and you guys can go in and write in your proposals and at that point we can send it back.
Floyd Bard: John I am not in disfavor of what you just said, I thank that is a good alternative. I am a little bit concerned about the May to July timeframe, that is only 60 days. There are people who are going to get involved in summer activities and stuff. I really think 60 days for the size of this project is way to short.
John Guches: Okay. I can move that to the September meeting. Everything has to be back to the committee by then and at the January meeting will give the committee enough time to work on it. Then we will go back to the discussion on this at that point.
Barbi Ashwill: I don't have a vote on this, but I do have a question about Parliamentarian. I was wondering if you might be able to change it to one that is knowledgeable to this position, or do they have to be certified?
Bob Bosch: A parliamentarian is suppose to work directly for this person (indicating the President), no other person here. I do everything upon his request. It would be up to Lee as next President, he would select his parliamentarian. We asked in there, and this was Vivian's comment, we need somebody who knows that book.
Barbi Ashwill: I would think Lee would choose someone that is knowledgeable and I don't think he would have to be certified. Like I said, I don't get a vote, this is just my opinion.
Frank Schuchard: So to repeat the committee members were the Parliamentarian, and two delegates, was that the committee?
John Guches: It was the Parliamentarian, Dennis Marsh and Vivian Fairburn.
Steve Murphy: I just had a comment based on Barbara Schaumburg's thing. I don't think Lee is the problem. He would pick somebody that is knowledgeable, but in the future, what about somebody that would pick somebody that is not knowledgeable. So we are hoping he will pick somebody that is knowledgeable, and I believe Lee will. But we never know. This rule I believe was thinking about in the next 20 years or next 20 presidents, not the next one. I am personally in agreement with it if somebody wants to do a particular job and it takes an 8-hour school, I have no problems with that myself.
John Guches: I would like to make one quick announcement. On the 13th of this month both Bob and Dennis took their test for a State Certified Parliamentarian and they both passed.
Carolyn Bosch: I would like to make a comment for Barbara's sake. Presidents don't always know. When Bob was president he had a parliamentarian that really did not know Roberts Rules of Order. That was a problem. He didn't know it in the beginning.
Floyd Bard: The Roberts Rules of Order for any of you who have had the privilege and pleasure of reading that book, I am sorry. It is very extensive, and it is that way for a reason. If you are in a municipality, county government, state government or any thing that has to do with that type of organization, everything you do is recorded, you have proper ways of notifying the public, and you have hearings in an official ballot, or results of your meeting that changes law. Certification of parliamentarian is to ensure that the business is conducted according to the Roberts Rules of Order so you don't violate any of these motions, modifications, how you notify the public. We are a non-profit organization, we are not in the public eye other than the color of our dress and how flashy we are and how much fun we are, except for Lee Ashwill. But, being knowledgeable and the conducting of how we run the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs and assisting the president, like Carolyn said is up to the president to select somebody that really can run the parliamentarian position at the level that we need it for the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs. I don't want a Cadillac to do a Ford job. We don't need it. We need a Ford to do a Ford's job.
John Guches: So what we are going to do at this point right now, is we are going to refer this back to Committee. They will bring the document back, with changes, to the September meeting. Then we will go into this full bore. Or actually, Lee will go into this full bore at Mid-Winter.
Lee Ashwill: Meeting will start at 8 o'clock Saturday morning.
David Stutzman: It is unclear to me, am I to request information to review, or will that be provided to me?
John Guches: I am going ask a quick question of all the delegates. Did they get a copy of any of this. Okay, I am going to request Vivian mail you a CD with this document on it for your working on it. That way everybody is on the same boat.
Discussion from many people in the room on how big the document is, and how long it takes to download and print.
John Guches: I still think at this point Floyd said it takes 4 hours to download this from the internet (on a dial-up). It would probably take me on the DSL about one hour. I will just have her mail you a disk, with a comment. That way I know you have it in your hands and we can work on it from there. Does that answer your question Dave, or do you have another one?
Dave Stutzman: I don't do much with CDs. I do a lot of mail transfer with email. Would it be available as a Word document? That way I can make edits directly on the document. I can't make edits on the document if it is a pdf.
Floyd Bard: Dave we have to have a dialogue here, because I tried to do that and I did a control C to copy all of it, and then I did a control D to move it into a Word document. You will not like how it does the interpretation and puts it into a Word document format. It went from 186 pages to almost 300 pages. Part of the file it spewed everything over and I don't know if I have the current version of pdf or not, or Acrobat Adobe. I understand what you are saying. I was frustrated because I can't go into Acrobat Adobe because I don't have the updated version to make the corrections. Let me work with Vivian and see if we can get this out of a pdf file format and put it in a Word document format and maybe help all of you out and not have that pdf format. Bottom line is we will see if we can work something out on that.
I had contact with Peter Wood regarding the Emerald Teens because the Emerald Empire basically asked for the Teens to be removed from the Federation. That is a real emotional issue with me because we need these kids. I am certainly not getting any younger and I don't think any of you are either. I believe the problem, after our conservation, is not with the teenagers, it is with Peter Wood and the Emerald Empire. They have a conflict of personalities. After listening to Dennis' report today: Dennis is there any possibility of getting the Emerald Teens to join in with the Young Guns and become one club?
Dennis Marsh: That probably would be a problem because most of the teens that are in the Emerald Teens are from down south. Further down in our area and he is not holding any dances in our area. That is why this other group was established to pick up the teens that want to dance in our area.
Lee Ashwill: Basically, we probably need a different leader for the Emerald Teens. He tells me he can't get the teens give him an answer on whether they want to be their own separate club or be a member of the Federation. I find that really hard to believe, because I think the teens are pretty outspoken and they will tell you what they want. I don't want to see them removed from the Federation. I really do not and I think we need to look at getting a different leader for the Emerald Teens. It is probably not something this body should be concerned with but if he can't work with the Emerald Empire that creates a problem for the teens and they are the one suffering from it. I don't know where we go from there.
Sandy Eddings: Dennis correct me if I am wrong on this. I was at the Area meeting when the Area decided to remove the Emerald Teens from the Area, not the Federation.
Lee Ashwill: They got a letter from this body asking that they be removed as a Federated club.
Sandy Eddings: That was not my understanding at the Area meeting. That letter was suppose to let you know we wanted them to be removed from the Emerald Area because they were not following Emerald Area procedures and by-laws.
Lee Ashwill: Was that the dancers or the leadership?
Sandy Eddings: I would assume the leadership because that is where the dancers go because they are teens.
Lee Ashwill: My recommendation to Peter was to see if he can get them to transfer down to the Rogue area and take membership in that council. That is when he came back and said, "I can't get them to tell me anything." We have to do something with these kids.
Unknown Female: I understand that, but at the area meeting where this was discussed at length about three times because we could not get an answer from Peter as to what was going on with the club. The By-Laws of the Emerald Empire Area say they have to hold at least one dance and they have to have membership in the Area and attend at least three Area meetings to be a club in the Emerald Area. They did not do that and neither did Peter. That is why they were asked to leave the Emerald Area.
Lee Ashwill: I was wrong, it is not the Rogue, it was the Umpqua Council. Do you think the Umpqua Council would accept the Emerald Teens as a club in your council?
Frank Schuchard: We have a new caller that we have in Canyonville that is a youthful caller, Kenji Wheatly, and most of the new dancers that he recruited were young. I guess maybe I missed something at the last meeting, but I didn't know that this was coming about. It is something that I can bring up at the next meeting.
Lee Ashwill: This was not discussed at the meeting, they just provided us with a letter and John asked me and two of the delegates to see what we could do about that.
Frank Schuchard: I would be happy to look into it and see what we can do about it.
Lee Ashwill: Is that acceptable by the Federation, John?
John Guches: I was going to make another recommendation. Basically what I was thinking about doing was referring this back to the committee, you and the two delegates that were assigned to it. From the Emerald Empire Area I would request that they set up a meeting with just the teens and this committee, Mr. Ashwill and the two individuals, so they can ask them what they want. I follow this philosophy on kids and youth, they are our future, and we need to keep every one of them dancing that we can keep. That is what I would like to do with them Lee.
Dennis Marsh: I don't have any problem taking this back to the council we are having a meeting tomorrow night and I will present that to them again, as per your request, and see if we can pull a meeting together with your committee and the teens and some of the members of the area council to sit in and we will have a discussion on that.
Don Bramhall: For a long time I attended meetings and heard this group say "What can we do for clubs." From what I am hearing today, you have a club that needs some help from this group. The club needs some help. They may not have leadership and they a council that doesn't like them. They may have leadership that will not talk with council, or may not know how to talk to the council, but you have a club that needs some help. Go help the club.
John Guches: Bob would like to make a comment on the taxes since he has gone through the P&Ps while we're sitting here.
Bob Bosch: In the P&Ps on Section VI-19 there is a letter, April 8, 1986, at the top it is the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs, it is designated in the Key District of Seattle, Internal Revenue Code: Section 501(c)(4). This was a contact number and an appeal number that came out of Los Angeles. So that is what we are designated, as far as I understand.
Bill Rooper: There are about 8 Cs, C4 is not a tax-exempt organization. We are not eligible to have people make donations to us and have them deducted on their tax return. C3s are the only one. The C4, is just like I was telling you a while ago. It is an exempt organization as far as the State is concerned. We are tax exempt on our income unless we are competing with a recognized business. If we have a business income, then we have to pay tax on it.
John Guches: What I am going to do with this discussion is I am going to contact Mr. Reid himself and have him discuss it with the CPA so that way we can get on with business.
Kathy Worthington: My question was can recoup some of this money that we put out?
Lee Ashwill: It is my understanding, that any losses on a festival would be shared equally by the council and this body. So you will be able to get half of it. The loan will have to be returned in full to the Federation.
Kathy Worthington: I understand. Thank you.
Steve Murphy: I have a couple of comments on the cancellation of it, and it was because of not enough pre-registration. A couple of things we can do and I think the Federation ought to solicit any ideals that come to them. One is that in the future on any festivals, and this is local one and State ones, to emphasize the pre-registration. I talked to quite a few people, and I know of quite a few people, even those in this room that intend to go but didn't pre-register. To stress to councils, clubs, and anybody that will listen that any festival needs up-front money to do it. Usually it is a club or at most a council that is doing this and they have to put out their own money. Sometimes this is a very significant amount of money. So we should let all our people know and make announcements to all our clubs that if you plan on going to the Mid-Winter Festival next year, buy your ribbons now, or any other festival. I think possibly the Federation might look in to, and this is just a suggestion, making a procedure at least on Summer and Mid-Winter Festivals about making a deadline, could be official or unofficial, that might be 1 month out or 3 months out, whatever, if they have not reached a certain goal that something kicks in, that's there is big advertising campaign or something like this. There is some talk about, well, there were no deadlines and everybody assumed it would go and was kind of a shock when it didn't and maybe some people should have been let known this is going to cancel if people don't pre-register. That didn't happen. That is a criticism that I think is unjust because we have no procedure of that when it comes close and we don't have enough. Possibly we should look into that as far as procedures in the festival book.
John Guches: I will make one comment to that. When a council bids to run a festival, i.e. Emerald Empire runs Mid-Winter. They are in control of everything of that. We are just basically a silent partner to them. But again, we can put out some advertisement throughout the State through the local councils and whatnot. That should help or could help.
Sandy Eddings: As the current Chairman of the 2010 Mid-Winter Festival. As all of you delegates know I passed out your ribbon packets at the January meeting and issued a challenge at that time, that the first delegate that sold all those ribbons got free admission to Mid-Winter Festival. Nobody has sent us any registrations from those packets. That tells me that the delegates are not pushing the Mid-Winter. If you want Mid-Winter to do anything, you need to push it. That is what we gave you packets for. We are not going to get pre-registration unless we have the dancers support. And you are all dancers. So lets not only support the Summer Festivals, but also the Mid-Winter and any other festival you can support. That is what this is about. If you want to keep square dancing going, you have to support it. I am sorry if I sound a little bit brash, and demanding, but that is the way it is.
Lee Ashwill: You asked for alternatives. I have an email that I was asked to read here. "You may inform the board this Sunday that the committee that put on the 2008 USA West Convention in Pendleton is currently prepared to host a standby Summer Festival at the Seaside Convention Center on July 24th & 25th, 2009. There will be mainstream, plus and rounds with dance sessions Friday Evening and Saturday Afternoon and Saturday Evening, nothing on Sunday. Pricing is tentatively set at $10.00 per session, $25.00 for the weekend with a breakeven point at about 200. Assuming the idea is well received, registration forms, hotel, motel and RV information will follow in the next week or two. Any profits will be turned over to the Federation. A caller team has been tentatively booked at the time to be determined." They just want me to bring that up. If it is received, fine, if not, they don't have a problem.
Barbi Ashwill: Somebody in the audience asked if you can tell us who signed that email?
Lee Ashwill: Yes, I can, but I am not going to. It was Tim Roberts.
Barbi Ashwill: The other thing that I was going to mention is if the body considers that proposal, if I am not mistaken, that is the same weekend as Diamond Lake. I think you would just be jumping into a bucket of worms if you tried to hold it that same weekend, so keep that in mind. The question I would ask of this body as you consider this is, I don't believe there is anything in our By-Laws or Practices and Procedures that allows us not to hold the five meetings that are set forth. Which means, whether we have a Summer Festival or not, we have to hold a meeting in July or whenever that is. I guess that is what I am wondering, are you going to address that so people will know plan?
John Guches: We can address that now.
Kathy Worthington: The Hayshakers plan on putting on the meeting. I do need guidance on POOF and ORDTA. Also is there going to be a delegates meeting and an officers meeting?
John Guches: At this point right now, I would like to take a stand-down. Everybody would stay in place and I would like to discuss this with the Parliamentarian and the 1st and 2nd Vice.
John Guches: Okay, I am going to let Mr. Ashwill give the report of the meeting we had back here.
Lee Ashwill: What we would like to do, and we are throwing it out to this body because we are going to need your support, we are not going to try to have a Summer Festival. We are going to piggyback on Diamond Lake and show the dancers of Oregon that we are going to go where they go. We are going to try to get that publicized if this body approves of that. We will have our State meeting there and it will be hosted still by the Astoria group. John has a council meeting tomorrow morning and he is going to try and get their approval, pending approval here, and then try to make reservations up there for a place to have the meeting and see what is available for lodging that we can get in. Since it is not a festival the consensus is that we will pay mileage and lodging for this meeting.
John Guches: All of the motel and efficiency apartments are already full and they have a waiting list. But, there are four service campgrounds all the way around the lake. There is the Diamond Lake RV Park, just across the street from the South Shore Pizza Parlor. The fee for that is $32.00 a night. I think at the Forest Service Campground it is something like $12.00 a night. They don't have electricity in those sites, but they do have a dump station and they have showers in each one of the campgrounds, hot and cold running water. I know one of the groups that goes up there they actually go in there while they are showering and brew their coffee in the morning. So that gives some of the explanation of Diamond Lake. The question from the officers up here is, are you receptive to this?
Steve Murphy: I guess Lee didn't say it, or I wasn't listening real close, under the plan of holding the meeting there and paying the per-diem mileage, what would that involve the Federation in? Extra advertising expenses or would this all be on the Rogue Sis-Q Council or the Star Promenaders to now push this. Would they be eligible for Federation funds? How do we get involved with it, what are we voting on?
Lee Ashwill: We are not voting on anything. What we are trying to get is a perception from the delegates and the officers, would you support an endeavor for us to go down to Diamond Lake, support them, and show the dancers of Oregon that the Summer Festival is not going to happen this year, but we are going to come where you are. We are supporting you as dancers and maybe we will be able to get them for their support for next year.
Bill Rooper: I don't have an RV and I have never driven one. If the officers can guarantee me a motel room I'll come. Otherwise, I prefer not to go.
Marilyn Schmit: How far away is the nearest motel for those of us that don't RV camp?
John Guches: In Chemult, which is approximately 26 miles away, there are motels. I do not know what the lodging is at Crater Lake, probably very expensive. (Some one is saying that it is full). There also are some areas at Union Creek that have cabins that can be rented through the Union Creek Store. I don't know how bad during the summer months they are booked. We have had several dancers that go to Diamond Lake that did not get into the motel and ended up staying in Diamond Lake Junction, which is right off the intersection of Highway 97.
Carol Bro: If Diamond Lake doesn't work well for a state meeting, the board of the Round-up has offered to find you accommodations in Central Oregon if you would want to hold the meeting during Round-up time.
Wally Brunelle: I am not sure as to what exactly we are being asked to vote on. Are we being asked to vote for a change in the meeting that was suppose to be held in Astoria? So we are actually being asked to okay the change of the meeting, the location of the meeting, or what? That is what I want to know.
Lee Ashwill: In order to bring this to a head, Mr. President, I make a motion that the July Oregon Federation Meeting be held at Diamond Lake on Sunday, July 26th, 2009. Seconded by Steve Murphy. Discussion:
Bill Rooper: Please read the motion again.
Lee Ashwill: I move that the July 2009, Meeting be held at Diamond Lake at the Diamond Lake Festival on Sunday, July 26th.
John Guches: All in favor, 16, all opposed, 4. I will be in contact tomorrow with the Diamond Lake Committee and inform them of your decision.
Marilyn Schmit: I have a grant request from two different callers, Sandy Harris and Phil Lindsey, to attend a caller school sometime later in the year. They are each requesting $750 to go. These applications have been looked over by me and Lee Ashwill and Bill Rooper and they have our approval. They have been approved by the Mid-Willamette Area Council President, too.
Marilyn Schmit: As Chair of this grant committee, I make a motion that we accept the two grant applications for $750 each, for Sandy Harris and Phil Lindsey to attend a caller school later this year. Seconded by Bill Rooper. Discussion followed.
John Guches: All in favor, 18, all opposed, 1, and 1 abstention, which is a non-vote. Motion carried.
Lee & Barbi Ashwill:
During the first week in February 2009, we attended the Pre-Convention of the 59th National Square Dance Convention® in Louisville, KY. Our City Tour included a tour of Churchill Downs and we highly recommend you put that on your "must see" list when you attend the National Convention in Louisville in June 2010.
Since the middle of February our travel and dance activities have been limited because of health issues. Although Lee is still recovering from a rare form of Shingles (Ramsay Hunt Syndrome), we did manage to attend the State Benefit Dance and most of our local club dances.
We were co-chairs with another couple in our club for IWW's, Independence Wagon Wheelers, Annual Koast Krash at a motel in Lincoln City the weekend of April 24 - 26, 2009. 52 of our club members attended and enjoyed Clam Chowder and Homemade Chili on Friday night. Saturday night was our big potluck with the host couples cooking the ham, turkey and meatloaf and the other 48 people providing all of the rolls, salads, side dishes and dessert. Yum-yum, what a feast! The fun began after dinner dishes were cleared away and 16 couples proceeded to entertain us with pantomimed TV commercials---what a hoot!! I wish you could have all been there.
It is our hope that many of you will journey to Long Beach, CA in June 2009 to support our neighbors to the South for the 58th National Square Dance Convention®. This will be the closest National Convention for you to attend until the 61st National Square Dance Convention® is hosted by the State of Washington in beautiful downtown Spokane in June 2012.
We are sure you will all feel sorry for us as we leave K.Falls this afternoon because of the long drive to get to Palm Springs. We plan to spend the rest of the week golfing and lying in the sun. After that it is Viva Las Vegas. We originally planned t0o return the first of June, but we are seeking the sun, and if we don't get our fill, we may not be back for a while. But not to worry, we have our cell phones and our laptop, so we can be reached in case of an emergency. Happy Dancing!!!!!!!!!
Don & Lonna Bramhall
A quote to start. "To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." - Bill Bryson
This quote by humorist and author Bill Bryson illustrates something we've been thinking about, particularly in light of having been able to travel to Hawaii recently. It was our privilege to represent Oregon at the 44th annual Aloha State Square Dance Festival hosted by five clubs representing Oahu and Maui. Doug Davis and Dan Preedy were the featured callers and the major organizers of the trip. We were especially pleased to be part of the Central Oregon contingent of 26 dancers, which must be some kind of record!
That brings us back to Bill Bryson's quote - if you ask each person what he or she liked best about the trip, you will get twenty-six different answers. That is because for most of us, everything we did, everything we saw, lots of things we ate - were familiar, only different in a good way. The dances were held at the Ala Wai Palladium on Kapahulu Avenue in Honolulu. Now that sure doesn't sound like Bend! It was particularly fascinating to discover, despite visiting a sister US state, that all the street signs and menus had to be translated! We learned to say mahalo, instead of thank you, that aloha means hello AND good-bye, we learned that Hawai'i should be pronounced with a "v" and it has an apostrophe in it, that a luau is a Big Pig Out-and Spam can be an entrée! Trees, plants, and flowers were recognizable, but yet totally different from juniper or blackberries or daffodils. The idea that ordinary things can be looked at as new and exciting and wonderful should be explored further.
How many dances have you been to? How many times have you heard the same caller and cuer? How many plates have you filled at a potluck dinner? How many festival ribbons have you bought? How many times have you heard someone say we're losing dancers? How many times have you complained? We are all so accustomed to seeing, hearing, doing the same things - perhaps we need to look at our favorite activity with new eyes. Things have become so familiar that we take them for granted. Have we all decided to move permanently into our Comfort Zone?
A few weeks ago, a strong wind collapsed a large portion of our back fence. Now, that fence has been there for 30 years and we were horrified to see that open space and cars going by and people walking on the sidewalk! But after a day or so, we kind of like the way it looked. Now we've decided to remove additional boards and open up the backyard even more. Take a good look at yourselves; maybe you can't afford to travel to get a new perspective, but you can always knock the fence down to see what's on the other side!
"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller
Tomorrow, take the trouble to see something in a new way.
Genevieve Churchill:
Our journey here from Portland was enjoyed by Barbara and I, it was such a beautiful day. We left early, enjoyed the snow along the way.
Otherwise not too much activity and I want to thank all of you for your concern for me - I have fully recovered and am back to dancing.
The one thing that was interesting was my trip to Ione with Marilyn to present the "Randall Award" to a very worthy couple, George and Lorene Griffith who live in Ione, long time dancers active in all that has happened.
My thanks to our hosts and nice to see everyone.
Bill & Annadale Rooper:
The time has come to make a story of our adventures.
The big news was our free for us trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in February. What a fabulous experience. Lots of sun, watching the whales and the world go by, sleep, eat, read, and margaritas. The raffle is the way to go, if you win. Our host (the Pleogs) was the most.
Back to reality; Bill started helping people with tax problems when he signed up to help with the AARP until the 15th of April. He likes that kind of stuff.
1 sat down to the computer and attempted to put a 700 name/address membership list for the Wasco County Pioneers on one of those memory stick things. Somehow that list disappeared. Anyway, the list was retyped, dues were collected and plans progressed for the Wasco County Pioneer Associations Annual Meeting held the first of May.
Our dancing has taken us to the Happy Hoppers 50th Anniversary and Luau, the H.O.R.S.E.S. Benefit Dance (that's where we danced in the horse barn) and to Ione to help honor George and Lorene Griffin when they received the Randall Award. A beach trip in Goldendale, WA was fun and the potatoes and onions at the Hard Time Dance at homemade interesting prizes.
We have been asked to help on the committee for the Summer Festival in the Portland Area in 2011. We will need lots of support to make this festival a success. We hope we can count on you.
Larry & Barbara Schaumburg:
Larry stayed home this weekend he had a one-night stand to do while I was gone. I called him last night and wished him luck. Anyhow, he had a lady call and asked him to do a dance for teenagers out at the horse farm. Anyhow, he had about 25 students out there and as you all know it is kind of hard to get them focused, anyway, he finally did.
After my son's death in October we decided to leave early and not wait till after Christmas to head south to Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. We arrived at our RV Park in Harlingen, TX, December 1st. Harlingen is about 20 miles north of Brownsville and Brownsville is as far south as you can go in Texas, 2,800 miles from Portland.
We got settled into our park and the activities started. I signed us up for 2 round dance workshops, plus squares, and I did line dancing twice a week. I signed up for a Spanish class too. We danced 6 days a week and twice on Friday when we went western dancing. In our spare time we played Pokeno, Hand & Foot (which are card games) and Bingo. We also made all the potlucks on Tuesday's and flea market on Wednesday and Saturday.
After being there a month I decided to look for a place to buy. Larry wasn't fond of that idea. I found a place, but the people sold it before I cold get my paperwork done. At this time Larry found out I was serious and decided to join the hunt. We found another place, bought it and we moved in, in a week. It's a 2 bedroom - 2 bath, come and visit us, on a 50 x 110 lot. It came completely furnished with all linens, pot and pans, washer and dryer, microwave, dishes, and two TVs. During all this we continued to dance and spread a lot of goodwill in deep South Texas from Oregon.
Our time in Texas came to an end April 1st when we started back towards Portland. We stopped in Rockport for a couple of days so Larry could fish, then on up to San Antonio and the River Walk for a couple of days. We left San Antonio and stopped 50 miles up the road in Fredericksburg where my Daddy was born. After a short visit to the cemetery we hit the freeway again. After driving a few miles the wind began to blow and it blew so hard we had to stop in Junction City. That night at 8:30 the wind had calmed, so I decided to drive a little more. At 9:10, guess what, we had a blow out on the dual of the motor home. I limped into a parking area about ½ mile up the freeway and called Good Sam. Our trip back to Portland was full of wind. We had to stop every day around noon because of the wind. At one point we had winds at 60 - 70 miles an hour. I could write a book about our trip to and from Texas. We arrived home safely about 3 weeks ago and I give Thanks to our Heavenly Father for that.
Lee Ashwill: I would like to encourage all of you to register for the 61st National Square Dance Convention in Spokane. They have a goal of having 1,000 pre-registration before they go to Long Beach at the end of June. Marilyn Schmit, Barbi and I all have registration forms, you are free to bring your checks and come on over.
Linda Danner: I am the Past President of the Central Oregon Round-up. I like to hear about buying ribbons and pre-registering and all those things. Actually, I have ribbons for the Central Oregon Round-up the 2nd weekend in August. If you have some of our flyers, which I think all the delegates do, if you do want to participate in the barbeque you have to pre-register by July 14th, so they can get a headcount and purchase supplies. So remember July 14th in Central Oregon.
Marilyn Schmit: As far as I know right now, I am running for Western Region Vice President of the United Square Dancers of America and at this point I am running unopposed. So hopefully I will be taking Kay and Jim's place on the Board of Directors for the USDA. In that, Ron and I have been delegates to the USDA. I was on the Board for 5-years and I have been a delegate for 8 years. I have been involved with USDA for about 13 years. The USDA has a pharmacy card. It is a discount prescription plan. If you don't prescription coverage, and it doesn't have to be a square dancer, it can be anyone. So if you know of someone who needs some help with prescriptions, come see me I cards and discounts are 10 - 25% or thereabouts. You can go to United Square Dancers of America web page and get more information. Download the information on a pharmacy card and all sorts of stuff there. They have all sorts of handouts and stuff you can print on your own. They all can be reprinted. The USDA News comes out quarterly and that is $6.00 for a year. It is going to be my pleasure to go back on the Board, I hope, and I hope that you guys will come and ask questions every time you see us, if you have questions about USDA. Web site is www.usda.org.
Floyd Bard: Okay, I have a deal here. One for $2, two for $3, three for $4, or four for $5. So if you want to get together with somebody and make a good deal its, 1 for $2, 2 for $3, 3 for $4, 4 for $5. For the State Directory.
ADJOURN: John Guches: Again, I would like to thank everybody that showed up here this weekend. I do hope you have enjoyed Southern Oregon. There are a lot of things to see between now and the time you leave here and the time you get home. And I wish you all a happy experience. By unanimous decision, the meeting is adjourned.
Adjourned at 1:10 pm.
Next meeting at Diamond Lake, Oregon, July 26, 2009.
Complete copy of these minutes is available by contacting the Recording Secretary.
Dale A. Worthington
Recording Secretary